Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities — that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can be deduced from a single number: the city’s population. In this mind-bending talk from TEDGlobal he shows how it works and how similar laws hold for organisms and corporations. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Duration: 17:33.)
Also, check out the Q&A related to this here: [Q&A with G. West]
A while ago this topic was covered at more length at Edge.org. Check out their coverage here: [Coverage @edge.org]